Time Changes
by SapphireNight
Summary: Padfoot and Prongs take a step through time, right into Harry's 5th year. What will happen when these two trouble makers become intertwined with the reality of the well worn pages of the book. Comedy, angst, pranks and drama. Newly recontinued.
1. Time Charmed Rings

When you read this story, it might sound familiar to you, if you've read any of my other work. This is because it is a complete rewrite of my first fanfiction, 'It's in Your Blood' (story 1663650). As I have been reminded by several reviewers, the words 'This story is not abandoned, but it is on hold for two weeks', has been my downfall, and I promised myself I would write. And here you are.

And don't let the fact that this is a re-write scare you, there is no need to read the original story, unless you want to see how bad it was!

It was a year since I wrote the latest chapter for the original fic, and in that time, my style has greatly changed and improved. I could not write subsequent chapters for that same fic, and I was a little unhappy at leaving it for the rest of time. So here you are, this is the result. These chapters wont be a carbon copy of 'Blood', with a couple of added lines; this is a major re-write, and some chapters may have almost or no resemblance to the original.

Oh, also, I don't own Harry, Sirius, James or anyone else. They all came from J.K. Rowling's head, not my own, I don't own anything, as sad as I am to announce.

And finally, tell me what you think, whether you like it, hate it, don't understand something, think something will work better another way, wanna ask a question, or wanna give a comment. All reviews welcome, and please, enjoy!

Anyway, enough of the talk, and on with the story.

* * *

In a dormitory at the top of the Gryffindor tower, a young man stood captivated by what lay in his palm, an open book propped up before him. Unknown to him, a second person crept up behind him, a sly smile on his face as he got ready to pounce.

"Shouldn't you be down on the Quidditch pitch?" the first man said, not taking his eyes off the pages, nor the object in his hand. James sighed.

"Nah, I've got a couple of minutes yet. Besides, they wont be able to play without me, I'm their principle flyer. And how…?"

"James, how long have I known you?"

"Too long. But in all the years I've known _you_, I've never seen you so captivated in a book, unless it was on the magic of mischief and tricks."

"And I've never known you to risk the beginning of a match. Go on, get down there. I'll just be up here for a couple more minutes, just let me finish."

James leaned over and read the title of the book. "'The art and trials of time travellers: methods of time travel.' Time travel rings?" James reached forward and inspected the two rings on his friends palm.

"Yeah. I saw them in my parents house, when I was checking my parents rooms for any 'confiscated' items of mine. Found it in one of the draws."

"You sure its going to work?"

"Pretty sure."

Just then, they were interrupted by the arrival of two more boys. "James? Sirius? You're needed down on the Quidditch pitch. Game, remember?"

"Yes, Remus, we're coming. Anyway, it will be perfect to our cause!" Sirius finished to James. Peter, the forth boy, was at a loss.

"Cause?"

"Mischief, Wormtail, mischief. Where have you been for the last five years?" Sometimes, Sirius just had to wonder at Peter's stupidity.

"James, as much as I admire your scheming, you have a match. Against Slytherin. Now, off! Go! Now!" Remus chided, pushing James as he rushed past them, grabbing his broom, and rushed out of the door.

"So, what was this that you've been scheming? And are my eyes deceiving me, or is that an open book, laying before you. Honestly, Mr. Black, I would have expected better from you!" Remus joked, settling down beside the two remaining friends. His eyes caught the rings in Sirius' arms.

"So- Time charm rings?"

"See? What did I tell you? Text book with arms! Didn't need this!" Sirius joked, slamming the book shut.

"Yeah, but, isn't it often that time travellers using this method have on countless times left the return journey ring behind? The rings act as return-way train tickets. You can go in time and come back, but you can never stay in that time permanently."

"I've thought of that. That's why we're going to leave the return ring in a safe hidden place here." Sirius said, pointing to a lose brick in the stonework of the tower.

"Its fool-proof!" he added, his eyes now glittering.

"Anyway, we've got to go, guys. Gotta see James win us another game against Slytherin. I bet him several galleons that it would be longer then the one against Ravenclaw, don't want to lose that money just because I missed the beginning of the game." Remus said, and then they all headed for the door, leaving the top most room of the Gryffindor tower completely empty.

Completely empty, except for two rings, left hidden in its stonework.


	2. Meet Potter, James Potter

Nothing belongs to me, if it did, it would be my name over the front of all those books, and I'd be rich! I'm really sorry it took so long to get this up. I'm hoping to get the next chap up sooner. By the way, have a look at the origional chapters from my fic 'It's in your Blood', and tell me what you think about the changes, whether you like them or hate them. I write because i love to write, but i also write for you to read, so tell me what you like the best, and what you think is effective.

Enjoy!

* * *

"Well, well, well. Look who it is. Feeling brave, are you now, Potter. Or will you be spending another night in the hospital wing?" came a drawling voice over to his right. 

"Shut up, Malfoy."

"Oh, I can say what I want, Potter. Unlike you, I've never fallen off my broom!"

Crabbe and Goyle sputter out a few laughs stupidly, the emptiness of the voids residing in each of their fat little heads highly emphasised.

Malfoy turned his attention to Ron. "What's that Weasley's riding? Why would anyone put a flying charm on a mouldy old log like that?" He threw his voice into a baby imitation. "Ahhh, too scared to face up to me?" He glanced back at his two followers, smirking again as he returned back to his spiteful voice. "I thought a trade mark Gryffindor was to be brave! Or was that before Weasel joined that joke you call a team?"

Ron angrily mounted his broom, kicking off the ground sawing high into the air, the team following him.

"G_ryffindor are losers!_" Their chant and jeers followed the whole team throughout their practice session.

* * *

Hermione, coming out with Harry and Ron, had seen the Slytherins in the stands, and having had enough of the in classes, decided to turn back into the castle. After all, if her friends needed restraining from what the Slytherins might say, there was the whole team to do so. Hermione trudged unhappily back to the castle, knowing the outburst that would await her when Ron and Harry got back to the common room. 

"Password?"

"_Mimbulus Mimbletonia!"_

"Correct. You may enter." The Fat Lady said as she swung off her hinges, revealing the entrance to the Gryffindor Common room. Hermione stepped inside, and immediately saw two people.

"Oh, Harry, what are you doing here? I thought you were at Quidditch practice."

"What did you call me?" Harry said, with a strange questioning look in his eyes, and turned to look at a very cute boy, with elegant dark hair that Hermione had never seen before. He raised his eyebrows and shrugged.

Harry turned his attention back to Hermione. "Um, who are you?" he asked.

"Hermione?" she said, unsure of the question. _Did harry have amnesia? Did he get hit in the head again by another bludger?_

"Oh. Um. My name's James. James Potter, and, er, this is my best friend, Sirius Black."

"But… What… no! Oh, my God, its true!" gasped Hermione. At first she thought he was joking or had lost his mind, but looking closely at James, she saw that his eyes were hazel, and that Harry's characteristic lightening bolt scar was gone. Also, James's nose was slightly different. Longer, but it looked right. In fact, he looked slightly more charming than harry. Of course, thinking about it, Hermione figured that probably was a reason behind it- charm.

"Pardon me for interrupting this little…, um, well, pardon me for asking such a weird question, but _when_ is it?" said Sirius uncomfortably.

"Approximately twenty years in your future." Hermione said with a knowing smile.

"How'd you know-"

"Let's just say we kinda know some people" Hermione said, looking slightly uncomfortable at the possibility at revealing anything.

"So, who's this Harry?" said James, sitting on one of the common room sofas, Sirius sitting down a second later.

"Later, not really a good question to ask now."

"Oh, ok then" James said, disappointed.

There were suddenly interrupted by three people come in through the portrait door, two boys and a girl. All three had red and gold Quidditch robes on. The two guys were almost identical, obviously identical twins. They had bright red hair and freckles, and a glint in their eyes that James and Sirius recognised. Between them was a very pale looking girl, covered in blood. At first they thought something serious had happened, but on second glance, she was only having a very bad nosebleed, and by the looks of the twins who had helped her in, they had something to do with it. Obviously not a fight they were responsible for, but a trick or prank that had gone wrong, to judge by the way the twins were quietly arguing. They were muttering words like "where did it go, I thought you had it" and murmuring about colours, like purple and orange, for some reason. The three of them went past them up the stairs to their dormitory,oblivious to the fact that there was a complete stranger in an almost completely deserted room, sitting beside a boy they had left behind at the Quidditch pitch. Sirius opened his mouth to question who they were, but Hermione beat him to it.

"The two boys are the Weasley twins, one of my best friend's brothers. They also happen to be your successors, the present trouble makers. I'm sure you'll enjoy their company, and that you'll come up with some more exceedingly outrageous and extravagant plots." Hermione said, knowing smile still lingering on her face. "Now, I suggest that you go, because if they're back, then Harry and Ron will be coming back soon, and I think it would be best if you keep out of their way. Until later, anyway," she added hastily, at the downhearted look on the two time travellers faces. "Wow, you two look like you could be twins. Look, just go to the top dormitory on the boys side, I'll catch you up there in a few minutes with a book or two, to see exactly _how _you did this!"

The two time travellers were only just out of sight, when Harry and Ron came in, muttering angrily.

"How was practice?"

"It was-" Harry began.

"Completely lousy" Ron finished off in a hollow voice, slumping into the sofa with Harry, exactly where James and Sirius had been.

So began the gloomy Quidditch talk.

* * *

Ps, thanks for the first reviewer of this chapter, Reader4ever, who noticed thatI forgot to change one extra thing from the origional in 'Its in your Blood'. Ihad marked it out to change whilstI was writing this chapter, butI overlooked it. The line I'm am talking about was origionally: 

"Let's just say we kinda know some people" Ron said, exchanging a glance with Hermione.

Thanks again to Reader4ever.


	3. Impatient Gryffindors

Welcome back to another chapter of Time Changes, andhave a good Easter! Ps, if you can think of any other names for this fic, suggestions welcome.

* * *

Sirius and James went up to the top dormitory as little Miss I-know-you've-time-travelled-and-I-know-exactly-what-your-infamous-futures-hold, but had absolutely no intention of staying there. They were, after all, very inquisitive young men, and didn't like to be denied the freedom of knowledge. And anyway, hadn't they just travelled 20 years into the future? Surely they deserved to know what was going on, and who people were. 

So they promptly laid down on the nearest bed and fell asleep. Sirius was woken, he didn't know how much later, by the sounds of footsteps up the tower stairs. He leapt off the bed and ran into the shadowed toilet just in time to be out of sight when the lights magically turned on as a boy entered into the dormitory.

Sirius felt a rush of dread when he realised he'd left James, asleep. On someone else's bed. _Oh, shit!_

The boy who has come in glanced at James (Sirius waited with bated breath), and he gave a small 'tut', shaking his head. He quickly changed and climbed into the very bed Sirius had been moments before, and fell asleep instantly as the lights faded.

Retreating back across the dim room, Sirius crept round to James and woke him up.

"James, James! Wake up! Bloody hell! Everybody's here, they've all gone to bed. You're lucky they didn't notice you." _Or me._

"What? Are you sure?" James whispered fearfully, his eyes wide as they scanned the environment.

"Take a look around. Everyone's asleep apart from the owner of this bed here. I cant believe we chose the only two beds that their owners didn't need."

"So, why the hell did we suddenly fall asleep? Could it be something to do with jetlag of travelling here!"

"Not jetlag in the ordinary sense. I imagine we used so much energy getting here, we sent ourselves to sleep in exhaustion."

Sirius gave a little 'humph', and sat down on the bed. James's attention, however, was captured else where. He was looking curiously at the trunk at the end of the bed, where just below the lid, in one place, the bottom half was damaged. It was just one or two inches, but it was how the trunk was damaged that interested James. It seemed that the small area was simply _gone_. He could see into the trunk, and even from the dim light, he could see how the clothes inside were crumpled and compressed, as if some force was pushing them down from above. James moved down to open the trunk and have a closer look.

"What are you doing?" whispered Sirius suspiciously. It wasn't like James to rummage in other peoples property. Whilst he was the most hideous prankster, he usually respected peoples privacy, if nothing else, unless there was a good reason. (Or of course if a persons name ended in Snape.)

"Look at this," James said, pointing at the 'damaged' area. Sirius came round to crouch just in front of the unusual trunk.

"But that's just like…" Sirius started, turning to look at James with questioning eyes.

"Like when I closed my own trunk, and some of the invisibility cloak was coming out the side!" he finished, and before Sirius could object, or his conscience stop him, James had opened the trunk to reveal an invisibility cloak. There was silence for a moment.

"Wow, that looks just like yours!"

"That's because it _is_ mine!" James whispered harshly, giving Sirius a small glance. He picked it up. The liquid material flowed over his hands like mercury.

"This is just weird!"

"But, how did it get here, and in this time"

"Look!" Sirius said, pointing to the initials on the trunk

"HP"

"Harry?" Sirius suggested, remembering what that Hermione girl had called James.

"Potter?" burst out James with a curious smile. A fevered glint had appeared in his eyes, a look of obsession absolute determination.

Realisation dawned on Sirius's face. "Why else would he have an invisibility cloak, an object that is really rare? An invisibility cloak, that is actually yours!" Sirius cried breathlessly, working himself up to the state James had done, fully enjoying himself in the knowledge of knowing exactly what James would do when worked up like this.

"Come on!" James announced, rushing out of the room. Sirius took off a few steps behind him, the two of them rushing down the stairs pulling the cloak around themselves as if it was second nature.

They came into the common room and stopped dead.

There, in the deserted common room, sitting at one of the tables with Hermione, were two boys. The first had a head of fiery red hair, obviously the twin's brother, Ron. The other looked exactly like James. From the back, Sirius and James could see that Harry had exactly the same hair- it stuck up at the back in the same way as James!

Out of the corner of his eye, Sirius saw James sub-consciously raise his hand to his head, and put it too his hair from the back up, roughing it up. He smiled at his best friend's subtle reaction.

As Sirius and James moved round to look at Harry from the front, James saw the first differences. A lightening bolt scar on his forehead. He also noticed that his nose was slightly different.

James leaned forward and gazed into Harry's eyes; not hazel, like his own, but a startling shade of green. A shade that James had only seen one other person with.

_Is Harry related to Lily Evans? Is she his mother?_

Harry and Ron were sitting by a large table, scattered with parchments and text books. Homework, and by the looks of it, they had a lot.

Hermione moved over to the boys, away from her own pile of work, which was impressively larger then that of the boys.

"Nearly done?" she enquired.

"No." the redhead answered back.

Hermione glanced over Ron's essay, and started making suggestions and corrections. Both boys seemed to be very appreciative, and glancing at the clock, (which read 11:30) there was good reason.

"Thanks" snarled Ron bitterly. Hermione was slightly taken back, but not put off.

"Sorry, I only-"

"Yeah, well, if you've just come over here to criticise-"

"Ron-" Hermione said impatiently, glancing to the right.

"I haven't got time to listen to a sermon, all right, Hermione, I'm up to my neck in it here-"

"No, look" she said, still fairly annoyed, and pointed at the window she'd been looking at, where a handsome screech owl was waiting to be let in. After a few tedious comments about the owl's origin, opened up the long letter and began to read. From the opening, which Hermione had mumbled before reading silently, sounded extremely pompous. Sirius was at first wondering why the others weren't laughing at the extremely uptight voice the letter was written in. Indeed, the redhead seemed to be furious, but Harry tried to treat it like a joke, something that James and Sirius realised they would themselves, to comfort one of their friends.

"Well, if you want to – er – what is it? Oh, yeah – "sever ties" with me, I swear I won't get violent!"

At this remark, James tried to move round to the back of Ron to read the letter himself, but by the time he had nudged Sirius, Ron was already ripping up the letter.

"He is-" rip "the world's-" rip "biggest-" rip "_git_!" He threw the remains in the fire, where they caught alight and steadily burned.

Sirius and James looked at each other; eyebrows raised and smirks in their smiles.

"Come on, we've got to get this finished sometime before dawn" Ron said, referring to his essay.

"Oh, give them here" Hermione said abruptly. Sirius and James felt sure that this was a rare event, and they were lucky to have witnessed Hermione offering to take other people's work and completely correct it. It sure didn't happen often, by the incredulous and surprised looks of her friends. In fact, she was sounding a lot like Lupin!

"What!"

"Give them to me, I'll look through them and correct them"

"Are you serious? Ah, Hermione, you're a life saver! What can I -?"

"What you can say is, "we promise never to leave our homework this late again." "

James and Sirius smiled even more. She was turning out exactly like Lupin.


	4. Bitter Truths

* * *

A few minutes later, Hermione was still going over the essays, and finally everyone else had disappeared to their dormitories. 

"Ok, write that down. Then add the conclusion I've given you."

"Hermione, you are honestly the most wonderful person I've ever met! And if I'm ever rude to you again-"

"- I'll know you're back to normal! Harry, your is ok except for this bit at the end, I think you must have misheard professor Sinistra, Europa's covered in ice, not mice- Harry?" said Hermione, who had only just realised that Harry was paying more attention to the fire then to her.

"Er – Harry, why are you down there?" Ron commented, noticing Harry was now kneeling in front of the fireplace now.

"Because I've just seen Sirius's head in the fire"

The two hidden boys were so startled by the mention of Sirius' name that they had both let out a gasp before they could stop themselves. (They were forgetting, of course, that there was a possibility they could run into their older selves.) James, out of recognition and curiosity for his best friend's older self, and Sirius out of pure concern for possibly being visible to the present trio. So startled were the two, that were it not for Hermione talking at that exact moment, they probably would have been discovered.

"Sirius's head? You mean, like when he wanted to talk to you during the Triwizard Tournament-?" Sirius and James shared a glance as Hermione carried on. _Triwizard Tournament? Wow!_ They had only heard stories of the Triwizard Tournament played out. It had been rumoured that the Tournament was too dangerous to be continued in any school setting. It was a decision which James had always seen was outrageous whenever he had been bothered to open any book which wasn't needed for homework- which wasn't often.

"-But he wouldn't do that now, it would be too- _Sirius!_"

Again, the younger Sirius checked himself to see if he was visible. It was due to that slight distraction that he was not immediately aware of the sight which had made his best friend utterly speechless for the first time in years.

As he caught sight of the fire, what felt like a bludger smash into his stomach, expelling all possible air from his lungs. A man with long, shoulder length dark hair was grinning at them from the flames. There, in the fire, was himself. But it was not himself as he would have liked to known his 20 years older counterpart. No, this man was little more then a corpse or a beast.

Apparently they weren't the only ones given a shock; Hermione gasped, and Ron dropped his quill and jumped about a foot into the air, whacking his hand on the table. Harry seemed to be the only one comfortable with this; he had crawled down in front of the fireplace to talk with Sirius better.

"I was starting to think that you'd got to bed before everyone else had disappeared. I've been checking every hour." The man said, a smile creeping onto his lips, making him look slightly more humane.

"You've been popping into the fire every hour?" Harry repeated, smile on his face, and James saw the first similarities between their personalities. A slight smile began to form on his face.

"Just for a few seconds to check if the coast was clear." _Weird, it defiantly sounds like my voice…._ Present Sirius went on to talk about how a first year might have seen him, though he hoped he looked more like an odd burning log then anything else which might have raised suspicion. James and Sirius were pleased that the older version of him had yet to loose his daring and just plain idiocy. Hermione added what appeared to be her usual disapproval, which was instantly beaten down by the man. All seemed to be well until the topic of conversation changed to the subject of Harry's previous letter.

"You didn't say you'd written to Sirius!" Hermione criticised with an accusing glare

"I forgot!" Harry complained. "Don't look at me like that, Hermione," and then the conversation was off.

They mentioned a whole load of things which neither Sirius nor James could not fathom the meaning nor relevance of. What did the act of concealing information or scars have to do with anything? Peter would have thought that it sounded a bit like a conspiracy, but something just did not feel right about what was being said. Why talk about something so trivial as a scar? And why was Harry talking about these topics to Sirius anyway? It seemed the sort of thing a boy would take up with his father, but James' name had not even been mentioned. _Why?_

James had imagined since discovering he was going to be a father, that he would be more of a good friend than a disciplinary figure. He had hoped that he would be the sort of father to which a son would feel comfortable talking about anything with him, but he was starting to get more and more concerned and the conversation continued.

"So you don't think it had anything to do with Umbrige touching me when I was in detention with her?" James instantly congratulated Harry on earning a detention, to which Sirius agreed with a sly smile.

"I doubt it, I know her by reputation, and I'm sure she's no Death Eater-"

"She's foul enough to be one!" Harry remarked darkly, subconsciously flexing his fist, on which James saw pearly scarred writing. He found it difficult to read what had been etched there, until a burst of light from the fire revealed the identity of the words. _Quite a punishment. I thought Hogwarts had banned etching quills decades ago; and never in a hundred years would Dumbledore allow one to be used as a punishment during his reign._

"Yes, but the world isn't split into good people and Death Eaters. I know she's a nasty piece of work, though – you should hear Remus talk about her!"

"Does Lupin know her?"

That gave Sirius and James a jolt. The surprise of hearing Moony's name was one which crept under the defences. They had not been expecting to hear his name, but due to the popularity of their friend, hearing the name wasn't unexpected, it just took a few seconds for the realisation of who they were talking about to sink in. Moony is still alive and in good contact with Sirius! And Harry, Ron and Hermione knew him, or well enough to enquire about him, even if they didn't know about the secret. It was a small token which cheered the two time travellers up a bit.

"No, but she drafted a bit of anti-werewolf legislation two years ago that makes it almost impossible for him to get a job."

"What's she got against werewolves?" Hermione angrily protested. So they did know, and they still liked and respected him; treated him like a man, not a monster. That took a lot of understanding. James felt a deeper sense of respect form for his son, and the friends he kept.

"Apparently, she loathes part-humans; she campaigned to have merpeople rounded up and tagged last year, too. Imagine wasting your time and energy persecuting merpeople when there are little toerags like Kreacher on the loose!" the school boy Sirius instantaneously agreed with himself, but then was slightly startled as to why that rodent being had been raised in conversation in the first place. _Hadn't he put that home far behind him?_

Sirius quickly changed the subject as the young lady tried to argue that thing's case. _Obviously she hasn't spent any time near it._

"So what's Umbridge's lessons like? Is she training you to kill all half-breeds?"

"No!" said Harry bitterly

"All we do is read from the stupid textbook." Ron groaned, absentmindedly picking at the edge of the astronomy homework he had spent so much time trying to finish.

"Ah, well, that figures. Our information from inside the Ministry says Fudge doesn't want you trained in combat." _Ministry connections, I'm doing pretty well._

"_Trained in combat!"_ Harry angrily spat back out. His fingers were gripping into the back of the other hand, making the scarred writing almost invisible with the pressure he was applying.

The corpse of a man replied in the affirmative. "That's exactly what he thinks you're doing, or rather, that's exactly what he's afraid Dumbledore's doing- forming his own private army, with which he will be able to take on the Ministry of Magic" James found it very amusing to hear of the minister of magic's preposterous ideas, and quite quickly made up his mind that his new guy was quite clearly insane. It had been a different minister who had been around in their tine, and James wondered just how new this 'Fudge' was. He was pretty sure he couldn't have been in power any longer than a year or two- no idiot like that could ever retain such a position. He was quite frankly amazed he attained it in the first place. The young Sirius agreed with him in a whisper

Harry then asked about a missing Hagrid. James and Sirius could not remember a time when that great man was not at Hogwarts, he lived there, he looked after the land, and also some of the students. James had made friends with him during his third week of school. Sirius had been more sceptical. Back at home, his family did not have anything friendly or considerate to say about Dumbledore, or any of his associates. By the time Sirius was at Hogwarts, he quite detested his family, but it takes longer to see clearly past comments and beliefs he had been brought up to adhere to. It had been rumoured that Hagrid was half-giant, but on the inside he was the compete opposite; he was really just a soft, cuddly, teddy bear.

The older man changed the subject "When's your next Hogsmeade weekend, anyway? I was thinking, we got away with the dog disguise at the station, didn't we? I thought I could-"

"NO!" Harry and Hermione cried loudly, immediately startling James and Sirius. They would never ever had said 'no'. They also thought that they knew what the three friends were like, even after such a short time. It really surprised them, and greatly disappointed the older Sirius. The trio continued to argue with Sirius about another near escape, and the possibility of being caught, so Sirius had to give in. The younger two were also slightly annoyed as well. Yes, it was dangerous, yes, it was illegal, but no one ever saw them, nothing had ever come of it. Who would ever suspect such a lovable dog to really be an animagus. And what the hell was wrong with Sirius being an animagus, it wasn't like he was a hunted man, was he? But then what about his appearance? Why was he so gaunt, why were they creeping behind peoples back, and having secret meetings in the fire? Student Flooing was strictly out of bounds, but that never stopped anyone who really wanted to- or, that is, those with the ability and daring: James and his friends. And there was nothing to say that this younger generation wasn't any different, but there was something more, something deeper. Something drastically not right.

"All right, all right, I've got the point. Just an idea, thought you might like to get together" Said Sirius, a stony look on his face which James knew well.

"I would, but I just don't want you chucked back in Azkaban!"

There was an echoing silence. In the young Sirius's head, the words kept reverberating round and round. _"Chucked back into Azkaban. Chucked into Azkaban." They don't put people in Azkaban for steeling a loaf of bread_.

"You're less like your father than I thought." Sirius said, his voice cold enough to freeze the blood of those who herd it. "The risk would've been what made it fun for James." He continued, almost scathingly.

James froze.

"Look-"

"Well id better get going, I can hear Kreacher coming down the stairs. I'll write to tell you a time I can make it back into the fire, them, shall I? If you can stand to risk it?"

The haunted man disappeared from the fire, and with it, so left both of the time travellers' stomachs.

Harry got up angrily from the floor, kicked the mantle piece, stubbed his toe, cursed, and then stormed up the stairs to his dormitory without the slightest 'goodnight'. Ron followed, claiming the need for sleep, and apologised to Hermione before he went upstairs to try and talk his best friend out of clearly what was going to be a catatonic state.

Hermione was completely alone. Alone, apart from two panicked time travellers, demanding answers.

When a voice spoke from behind her, she jumped.

"Azkaban? Your friend, Harry, he said that he didn't want to see me thrown back into… Azkaban?" Sirius spoke shakily. His voice got raspier, as though he was trying to suppress a huge amount of emotion, or tears.

"Umm" Hermione was panicked. She had not expected the truth to come out like that.

"Well, what did I do? They don't put people in there for trivial things." He tried to get a hold on the emotion he expressed, but he couldn't accomplish it, and sent a stream of tears down his cheeks he had been trying so desperately to prevent. He turned his head sideways, so ashamed at the water flowing so freely from his eyes. He was surprised, therefore, to hear the same despairing tones in James, but instantly turned his head back to stare determinedly at the girl in an effort to support his friend.

"You're not telling us the truth, Hermione. Sirius was in Azkaban. He refereed to me in the past tense. The way you would refer about a dead person. What happened, Hermione? It's connected, I know it is, everything between the two of us is connected! What is going on? Tell us!" James cried desperately. His words kept on coming faster and faster as he delivered them. Tears started to creep down his face too as he moved to lower himself down into one of the sofas. He had never cried before, not in front of anyone, but this was different. He had just been told he was going to die. Sirius had been told he would go to the most horrible, hellish place imaginable. He caught sight of the tear stained face of his friend and shared a determined gaze as a way of comfort and stability.

Both young men wished they had for once just done as they were told, and hadn't ever come down from that dormitory. Both of them wished they had never come to this time. It had only been some fun, a laugh, right, nothing more. They didn't want to have been told their nightmare futures. And they certainty didn't want to have pieced them together themselves.

* * *

Firstly, I would like to say thank you for reading. I know not everyone reviews if they read a story, I don't expect you to, so I want to say thank you if you read this and you enjoyed it. That really is the main reason why I write. For my enjoyment, and for others. 

It may take a little while to get the next chapter up, I am preparing for some important exams, but I promise you this: it will come, so be patient.

To Serpent91, thank you so much for your reviews to all of my HP fics. Also also thank you so much for giving me the motivation to get this chapter finished. You know how it is, you always plan to write that next chapter, but never get round to it? Well, you changed that. Thanks for making this chapter here!

hittocerebattosai, thank you for reviewing, it good to see some fresh metaphorical faces. And also I have to thank you again on your speedy and quite invigorating review to this current chapter. Like I've already told you, you've made my day. Thank you so much.

comedy gal, Nice to see a new reviewer! I am really sorry that it has taken this long to update, but I hope you feel that it is worth the wait.

To crazy4thesun, thank you, again for taking the time to read and review. Always nice to see that I'm not just attracting back a small band of the same readers.

To zippyfox, thank you for your very warm review. I look forward to receiving more, but most of all I hope you continue to enjoy the story.

paige-rossi-black, ooohhh, you will be seeing more comparisons, don't you worry. And you will have more to laugh about, some exciting things are planned for later chapters, just you wait!

pandas rule the world: thank you for reviewing, and even more so for reading it in the first place. The reason Remus didn't join them was that Sirius had writers block and went to watch James' match. As he congratulates him, James asks about whether Sirius wrote the note, to which he admits not finishing it, so the two of them rush up to the dormitory to write it. They have an argument/fight, as all best friends do, the ring gets slipped on whilst the other is holding it, and they both get sent into the future, to a time which they had no control over, but was probably lingering at the back of their minds. I had had this specifically thought out, but when I went over the chapters of both stories to give you a chapter reference, I found that I had not written this. I will try to incorporate it into a future chapter, or else add a 'scene' into a previous one. Thank you for making me aware of this.

UnSerious Sirius, nice to have a new reviewer, even better to have a new reader! Continue reading, please, it gets a lot better yet!

Alaya, I have often been in the same situation, where you just need something to read, and I know there is nothing more annoying than to read a lousy fanfic. So I just want to say thank you for enjoying this one, and I hope I keep you amused for more nights to come! And please, review again. Its not just members who continually track fanfics.

Hpfeak, really really sorry about not updating in such a long time, but I hope this chapter will cheer you up. And I apologise in advance if the next chapter gets a bit of jet-lag when it comes down to me hoping to get it posted by a certain date.

Redgirl44, oh, I have always been intrigued by the marauders, I have been even more intrigued with time travel. I had often played out in my head what would happen if such marauders did travel into the future, and how their story could intertwine with JK Rowlings. Sorry for the delay, but I hope you like this.

Lady of Contradiction, so glad you enjoy the story. I am genuinely sorry about the length of time it has taken to post again, but I hope you love this chapter as much as the previous ones.

CrazyNut101, oh my word, thank you so much! it really makes any authors day to find such an amazingly great review. And thank you as well for telling me about the error in the previous. I have already corrected and reposted chapter 3, and I just hope you love chapter 4 as well.

Richard, so nice to see you couldn't be bothered to sign in again! So, how are the flowers in my back garden doing at the moment? Do I have any, and will they still be there by the time I post chapter 5? And a very interesting concept of selling my garden on eBay- I wonder what the new owners will think when they turn up at my house demanding to see their new devastated garden! Keep up the work at Uni, talk soon.

magicgirl45852, nice to see someone who has followed the story for early on. Glad to see reviewers don't just drop like flies when I take a long time updating! Thanks as well for the title suggestion, its very much appreciated. Hope you review again.

Reader4ever, oooohh, yet another reviewer who has been there since the beginning! As for the twins, they don't know them. They realise they are twins (and that poses a lot of mischievous potential in itself), but the glint in the eye was that mischievous twinkle that the marauders know and love. I hope that corrects that. If it doesn't, let me know.

IamSiriusgrl, thanks for reviewing again, good to know some people follow the fiction. What I do to write these chapters is to rewrite and write new bits from the old chapters of 'its in your blood', which means I tend to write more then what was originally there. As you will realise if you read this, it has been quite a long time since I posted on _this_ fanfic, and yes, my writing has become even more elaborate. Which means that chapters will be even more longer than ever. Good things come in groups, hey? Ps, my usual average is about 1000 words per chapter, so this one is _pretty_ big!

Thank you again, to every reviewer, and thank you to everyone who read the story. I hope you liked it, and I hope you will read the next chapter.


	5. Harsh Realities

**Recap from last chapter:**

_Hermione was completely alone. Alone, apart from two panicked time travellers, demanding answers._

_When a voice spoke from behind her, she jumped._

_"Azkaban? Your friend, Harry, he said that he didn't want to see me thrown back into… Azkaban?" Sirius spoke shakily. His voice got raspier, as though he was trying to suppress a huge amount of emotion, or tears._

_"Umm" Hermione was panicked. She had not expected the truth to come out like that._

_"Well, what did I do? They don't put people in there for trivial things." He tried to get a hold on the emotion he expressed, but he couldn't accomplish it, and sent a stream of tears down his cheeks he had been trying so desperately to prevent. He turned his head sideways, so ashamed at the water flowing so freely from his eyes. He was surprised, therefore, to hear the same despairing tones in James, but instantly turned his head back to stare determinedly at the girl in an effort to support his friend._

_"You're not telling us the truth, Hermione. Sirius was in Azkaban. He refereed to me in the past tense. The way you would refer about a dead person. What happened, Hermione? It's connected, I know it is, everything between the two of us is connected! What is going on? Tell us!" James cried desperately. His words kept on coming faster and faster as he delivered them. Tears started to creep down his face too as he moved to lower himself down into one of the sofas. He had never cried before, not in front of anyone, but this was different. He had just been told he was going to die. Sirius had been told he would go to the most horrible, hellish place imaginable. He caught sight of the tear stained face of his friend and shared a determined gaze as a way of comfort and stability._

_Both young men wished they had for once just done as they were told, and hadn't ever come down from that dormitory. Both of them wished they had never come to this time. It had only been some fun, a laugh, right, nothing more. They didn't want to have been told their nightmare futures. And they certainty didn't want to have pieced them together themselves._

* * *

Hermione glanced uncertainly from James' tear stained face to Sirius'. Her mouth opened and closed several times, but no words came out. Seeing this, Sirius angrily shook his head and turned around, his face contorted into an expression of disgust, anger and impatience. He began to walk away, his footsteps heavy as his mind swarmed round with impatience, mixed with anger but also fear. As his mind revolved, one thing suddenly became clear. James needed to know, as much as he did. This couldn't end now. 

His foot swung down as he span round and he marched determinedly back towards Hermione, his arm outstretched, pointing at her accusingly. "You tell us. Now. Now, you hear me?" Sirius thundered, the last words choking in his throat, but his expression remained determined.

Hermione was shocked. She looked down several times, and her eyes flicked across the room, desperately trying to hide how frightened she had just become of the young man in front of her. Ever since she'd known him, Sirius had always been so kind towards her, so patient. She could never have imagined that he could ever become as menacing as the man who now stood before her. She fiercely tried to hold back her tears as she looked up at him.

"I, I… I think it might be best if you sit down, Sirius." She asked feebly.

Sirius was frozen in enraged surprise. He initially was going to refuse, he didn't need to sit down, he wanted answers. He wasn't some silly little woman who would collapse at the sound of unfortunate news. He then caught sight of the fear in her eyes. The pain. He was scaring her, but not only that, she was afraid of the information she was about to divulge.

He obediently sat down beside James.

Hermione gave a momentary half-smile in way of thanks, and then tried to begin. "Well, I… I suppose it all starts nearly 14 years ago. I'm guessing you've already worked out that Harry is your son and Lily Evans is his mother." She took a shuddering breath. "When Harry was just a year old, you were… you were…"

As she spoke, Hermione's mind started to panic. James was watching her with anticipation. Sirius was hauntilly studying her. All she could see was their young faces. "I, I… I can't do this." She cried suddenly, running towards the dormitory stairs.

James looked up at her retreating form. "No, please. Please, we need to know." He said, his voice low and hollow. Hermione stopped dead. Even with her back turned, the boys could see her head tilt downwards in defeat. She didn't move for several minutes, but neither James not Sirius pressed her. They waited patiently for her to divulge whatever fate there lay in store. She finally turned round to address them.

"You were killed, James. Murdered. When Harry was just a year old. I'm sorry, I'm so, so sorry." She said matter-of-factly, her eyes fixed on James. She shook her head.

James was speechless. He stared at the floor and blinked several times, feeling the warmth of the new tears he had just pushed out roll down his cheek. It was Sirius who spoke first. Clearing his throat uncertainly, he voiced up. "Do you know who did it? Did you catch them, are they in Azkaban?" He asked uncertainty. Realising what he just said, he fell silent, the implications resounding round his head.

Hermione looked at them apologetically. "It was You-Know-Who, James. He murdered you himself." she said. "He came to your house, and you tried to defend Lily and Harry by confronting him. He then went upstairs to… Well, he killed Lilly too." James was still staring determinedly at the floor. Hermione sat down beside him and placed her hand over his, trying to console him. He pulled his hand back and turned away from her, shifting closer to Sirius as he did so. Hermione looked down in guilt, feeling the hurt run through her and welcoming it.

"He tried to kill Harry, but it just didn't work." She muttered to the floor. "Nobody knows why, but he couldn't kill him. It ended up separating You-Know-Who from his body, and since then, everyone has thought he was dead. You-Know-Who's been gone for 14 years." She explained. James remained just as still and just as silent.

"Were do I come in?" Sirius asked, turning to look directly at the young lady. Hermione looked back at Sirius in confusion.

"We're together on everything. You don't lose that kind of friendship, ever. _I'm involved_."

Hermione nodded in understanding. She studied the two faces, looking from one to the other, before settling on James again. "You had known that You-Know-Who had targeted your family. Don't ask me how, I have never been told. I don't even think Harry knows why. But you were. Now, I don't know if either of you know, but there is an extremely advanced charm called the Fidelius Charm. It is used-"

"-To magically conceal a secret inside a single living soul, known as the Secret Keeper, where it is impossible to extract or view anything concealed by the charm unless the Secret Keeper chooses to divulge it."

Hermione blinked several times, and looked at James in mixed bewilderment and amazement. "I like to read up on these sorts of things," he explained. "It's massively too complex for anyone of our experience to use, but the nature of the charm is fairly intriguing." Hermione sheepishly looked down and scratched her head, embarrassed at the fact that this trouble maker had actually gone to the trouble of researching this particular charm, where she had only learnt about it from eavesdropping. Sirius looked at her, and then glanced back at James, a slight smile creeping onto his lips. In just a split second, he had forgotten himself- forgotten his anger, forgotten his fear, forgotten his feeling of helplessness. In one split second, all he could see was a young female boffin being upstaged by his trouble-maker best friend. After all, the sight of any boffin being upstaged is one to be savoured. A second later, reality came crashing down in front of his eyes once more, and he remembered what this young boffin had just been telling them. However, when Sirius looked at Hermione again, he held a lot more sympathy in his eyes.

"So I was James's Secret Keeper. But how did I get an Azkaban sentence? Unless…" His eyes went wide. "No. No! I would never have betrayed James, never! I would rather die, I would rather be tortured, I would never, ever…" Sirius cried as panic threatened to overwhelm him.

"No, you wouldn't have." Hermione quickly answered, horrified at seeing her words inflict so much pain. "But, you weren't his Secret Keeper. Everyone thought you were; that was the plan. Even Dumbledore thought you were, but he knew that someone close was betraying you. No, I am not suggesting that James or anyone else suspected you of any part of that, but it was that knowledge which led to the change of Secret Keeper. Everyone knew Sirius would be the one, so you used a different person as a bluff."

"So what happened?" James asked.

"You chose the wrong person. When you found out what he had done, you hunted him down and confronted him, but he managed to get the better of you. That's how you ended up in Azkaban. When you found him, he shouted out to the muggle street about how you had betrayed them. As you tried to curse him, he blew up the street, and then disappeared. You were imprisoned for being a Death Eater; for the death of 12 muggles, and that one wizard; no trial. The evidence was pretty convincing. _You were laughing manically as they arrested you…_" Hermione whispered, directing the last comment more to herself than anyone else. A small shiver ran down her spine as she remembered the Wanted posters.

"Who was it? _Who was it_?" James demanded.

Hermione felt dread, fear and guilt flood through her in one large wash. Hating herself, she answered, "I can't tell you."

James looked at her in amazed disbelief. "_You can't tell me? _You want me to die! You want all of this to happen, for my wife and myself to be murdered in cold blood, for Sirius to get blamed? Just what are you? Who the hell do you think you are?" James thundered, his voice reverberating round the cold stone walls of the room.

Hermione gave a cry and jumped up from the sofa, breaking down into shuddering sobs. James was shocked. Forgetting his anger, he mentally kicked himself at being so foolish and impulsive.

"I'm sorry" James said softly as he walked over to her. "I just, I just cant imagine how anyone can do that, how they can inflict so much pain and evil. I hope they died just as painfully."

He stood to put a hand on Hermione's shoulder, but on turning her round he felt another surge of guilt course through him. Hermione was still crying. She fiercely tried to brush off the tears from her cheeks as he looked at her, but more tears just leaked out of her eyes, making the action futile. A spark of understanding ignited inside James.

"He's not dead, is he? You mean literally disappeared, not disapperated or dead, disappeared. And now he's turned up, hasn't he?" Hermione gulped and nodded.

Taking several deep breaths, she began to speak. "At the end of last year, he helped You-Know-Who return to His body. He took blood from Harry, and He's now stronger than him. He nearly killed him. Everyone has been in denial about You-Know-Who's rising; and Sirius is still a highly feared escaped convict, and no one knows that the real traitor is still alive." Hermione gasped, rubbing her face with her hands.

"I, I didn't know. It's gotten really bad again, hasn't it?"

"Not yet, but it is only a matter of time." Hermione whispered. She sighed and walked away in search of a tissue.

Sirius, who had been silent in the background, voiced his thoughts. "You said this man completely disappeared. That's almost impossible in the magical world. They can trace people, see if someone's disapperated, determine false identities. What you mean is that he was never seen again as that person, like a metamorphamagus has natural shape shifting abilities, or even like an animagus. No one would check for a transformation if they were unregistered, or threw a convincing stunt. I confronted him, and he blew up the street and transformed- into something inconspicuous or small enough not to be noticed when he fled." He paused for a moment, his eyes studying Hermione who, from a distance, was looking at him with a mixture of concern and amazement, and then looked determinedly back at James.

"James, who do you know what we would trust, and can transform into something virtually undetectable?" Sirius's eyes began to glimmer with manic enthusiasm. A sudden look of comprehension dawned on James's face.

"Peter…"

* * *

Now, thank you everyone for waiting. My exams are finally over! I shall be writing another chapter, and posting it soon. **Thank you all readers and reviewers alike for reading.** If you see any mistakes, or anything that doesnt make sence, please dont be shy. Ask me or let me know in a review or an email.The only way for things to get better is to know what brings them down. All constructive criticism is welcomed, as are any questions you may have. The only thing I wont stand for are Flames. 

But now, for the previous chapters reviews.

Torak the Slash Lover, Glad you liked it. 'Blood' was several years ago, and I have pretty much rewritten a lot of material, as well as include more of it. Thank you for pointing out that error from Ch2, I have now corrected it. I do try and proof read these to the best of my ability, but some things do slip through the net. So thank you again, and thanks for reading.

GodGeek, Nice to see a fresh face! I'm glad you like it! Sorry that it has taken so long to get this chapter up, but unfortunitally it was exam season. Now the exams are over, expect more chapters to be comming soon and fast!

hittocerebattosai, good to hear your voice again! Glad you liked it, youre going to love this one!

Richard, Thank you once again for those kind words. As you know, I love nothing better then to throw metaphorical bricks at my characters. How are you getting on with excavating my garden?

AlexLimecat, Well, here you go, the next chapter. I hope you enjoy the emotions I've written in here, but dont worry. You will see the fun-loving pranksters return in a chapter or two.

Reader4ever, good to hear from you again! Glad you like, glad you find interesting, and I'm really sorry I couldnt update before now. Thanks for your review!

Serpent91, again, glad to see the regulars return. Sorry for the delay, there is your next chapter, and the one after this is still being written. There will be more to follow soon!

lupinsmoon12391, ahh, another familiar face. I hope you appreciate this chapter, I've tried to do the situation justice. Good to hear from you, and you should be seeing more of this story soon aswell.

UnSerious Sirius, oh, dont worry, we all do that sometimes! Thats the one big problem about the review system, not being able to amend a review if you've written a _very_ bad spelling error, or were too half-asleep to realise what youve written. Glad you continue to enjoy this story, and there will be more to come soon.

IamSiriusgrl, Yep, I'm back, finally after all of these exams, I'm back, and I will be writing more soon. Good to see you again, and another chapter will be up soon.

PoTtEr-FaN-fOr-LiFe, Yeah, I've always loved a good time travel story. Unfortunitally, I find that some of the situations and emotions expressed dont always seem very real. I've tried my hardest to keep a sence of reality and of these people being real in these works. I'm not saying I'm perfect, but I try hard to base things on real emotions and expressions. I'm so very pleased that you enjoy this story, and I hope you continue to like it, as there is a **lot** to come before the story is done!

Again, thank you everyone who had read, and everyone who has reviewed.


	6. A Stormy Night

Important notice: If you look on my profile page, you can see I have a new forum. This is dedicated to informing readers of expected new fics and rewrites, updates as to uploading times for new chapters, information about any uploaded rewrites (which dont generate email alerts), etc. It is a place for me to tell you what I am doing, how near I am to getting something done, and what I am planning to do. It is also a place for you, as readers to ask questions, offer additional constructive criticism, and help keep myself and others aware of how well the fictions are working. I will be keeping this very up to date, so you will get a lot of information from there. You can post your own comments too, ask me questions about how the writing is getting on, and about things which are going on in the fictions. I am always open to others comments.

I really hope this helps. You will find a link to the forum through my profile.

* * *

_"James, who do you know what we would trust, and can transform into something virtually undetectable?" Sirius's eyes began to glimmer with manic enthusiasm. A sudden look of comprehension dawned on James's face._

_"Peter…"_

* * *

James just stood silent, the implications of the word spinning round his head, trying to comprehend how such a friend could ever do something like that. To them.

Sirius, meanwhile, had taken the name to be some sort of confirmation in his mind, as he had become alive with fire.

He squeezed his eyes shut as he braced himself against the wall, both palms on the cold brick work, his head hanging. He muttered their friend's name over and over for a few seconds, before something in him ignited, and he pushed against the stonework, shoving it away.

"Peter… Peter! The SPINELESS RODENT, HOW COULD HE! How could he…?"

"Sirius. Sirius!" James cried warningly, as the young man in question rocked back to lean in his original position. James went over to his friend's side, placed a hand on his shoulder, and spun him round. Sirius's back thumped forcefully against the brickwork as he regarded James with his arms crossed, a scowl on his face.

"This might not be our future. This might not happen to us. Stay calm- don't kill the messenger." James warned, inches away from his face.

Sirius turned his head slowly to regard him, waves of heat radiating from him in his anger.

"James, what is wrong with you? You're DEAD. I've been in Azkaban. Don't you see it? This isn't the future, this is HELL!"

"Oh, come on, Sirius, mate. If what she says is right, You-Know-Who's gone. You know how he's been rising, we've all heard reports of him being one of the most powerful wizards yet. Things are a lot safer."

"A lot safer? For who? Them? One dark wizard down, another one rises to take his place. You heard that girl. You-Know-Who's back. How is that safer? You? You're not even there, you haven't been since He killed you. Me? I've been in Azkaban for something I didn't even do. I didn't even get a trial. Just how is that a worth-wile future?"

James couldn't say anything. He regarded his old friend with tear filled eyes, as he tried to reach out to him again.

Sirius angrily shoved himself away from James and rushed out the portrait door, shouting back behind him, "Haven't you heard? I'm a Black. My family has been sentenced to Azkaban for generations. I guess it's just my fate, then, isn't it?"

He exited out of the portrait hole, slamming it shut, the Fat Lady's annoyed comments ringing after him.

Hermione bit her lip anxiously as her eyes subconsciously flickered towards the door from which the angry young man had just stormed out from. James sighed, and looked back towards Hermione. Over the cries of "Don't slam me, you rascal. You nearly broke me off my hinges! You're just as impolite as before- don't think I don't recognise you…" Hermione managed to hear him say, "Don't worry about him, he's Okay. Just give him several hours, and he'll have calmed down. I hope…" He added as an afterthought. He had to stay with him; this wasn't going to be 'pretty' with Sirius in such a dark mood. He shook his head, then regarded Hermione again. The dormitory was completely silent once again.

"You know, thank you for actually telling us. There aren't a lot of people who would be able to do what you did. I know we forced you, but still, thank you. And actually, considering what you've just told us, Sirius's reaction could have been a lot worse…"

Hermione raised her eyebrows at the proposition of a Sirius even more angry then the one she just witnessed.

"So, where has he gone to, do you think?"

"Well, he could just be wondering around the halls with that moody expression fixed to his face, but if he's got any sense- which I'm not sure he has these days, but he always seems to find a way to surprise us- he'd keep out of everyone's way."

"Where are you going to sleep? There wont be any room for you in the dormitories, you're technically not students here any longer." Hermione asked, matter-of-factly.

James looked at her, blinked, and then gave a small throaty grunt as he regarded the rest of the room. "We hadn't thought of that. I'd imagine our best bet is the Emergency Room. It's sort of an emergency hide out we stumbled upon last year when hiding from Professor Upstartch. Upstartch, you know, keen eyed Divination teacher, always claiming to have 'Seen' you doing it? No? Well, bloody good thing too if she's gone- she put a right spanner in the works sometimes. Anyway, the room always seems to keep changing each time we use it, and we can only ever find the damn door when we need it, but it will probably give us a place to stay, if what your saying is true, which beyond doubt its probably going to be." He said with a smile, hand rising to his hair to give it a slow mess-up from the back. Hermione gave him a curious glance, and James returned his hand to his side.

"So, who do you have for Divination now, then?" He asked curiously.

Hermione made a noise half between a throaty couch and a laugh. "I don't take Divination. I walked out of lessons two years ago."

"Ahhh, good to know you have as much appreciation for that fine art as we do, then." James replied with a chuckle. "Well, I think I'd better be going, try and head off Sirius before he gets to the Astronomy tower- kidding! Just kidding, honest!" He added at her startled, then very disapproving face. He made a motion towards the door.

"I'll be off then, bye" he said, then elaborately flung the invisibility cloak which had been hanging unnoticed by his side, round his shoulders and over his head. Hermione gave a sudden grab at where his arm had been. She succeeded in capturing him, and pulled the cloak down from his head. His head was now suspended above one shoulder, and a diagonally transected torso was now hovering a few feet off the floor.

"Where did you get Harry's cloak? Did you go rummaging in his trunk…?" She said, her demeanour suddenly unfriendly as her face gave a disapproving glare.

"'Harry's' cloak? This is _my_ cloak." He growled, his voice harbouring a threatening tone. "_My_ cloak. I don't do 'rummaging in other people's trunks'. I am not a petty thief, if this cloak 'belongs' to Harry, then it was from me that he got it from. Understand?"

Hermione gave a short nod, and released his arm and the cloak. Her face was fixed in an expression of stony blankness- trying to retain the previous look whilst her whole body was transfixed with terror and embarrassment. James disappeared once again into nothingness. Hermione's eyes ambled round the room listlessly as she tried to process what had just happened.

A moment later, she heard James's voice in front of the portrait. It hadn't occurred to her that the portrait hadn't opened nor closed yet, and so he still remained inside the room.

"I will need to know the password, if I need to get back in here for any reason. To talk with you in private, perhaps." James said, his voice a lot calmer and softer then it had been just a moment ago.

Hermione nodded silently, and then said, "Mimbulus Mimbletonia."

"Thanks."

Then the portrait door finally opened, and then closed for the last time that night.

* * *

And now, once again, a very warm thank you to everyone who has read this. Another hearty thank you to my reviewers! 

To Lemar2RedFox, You are going to have to wait a long time, this story isnt going to end any time soon! Its sort of going to have areas of one particular plot, heavy in one or a few genres, round that up, then go onto another area with a slightly different theme. Keep reading, you will enjoy a lot of what is to come! Thanks for reviewing!

To Serpent91, good to read from you again, glad you like the story.

To Delilah Evans, I am very honoured that you regard this story so highly, thank you so much for those complements. This story has a long way to go, butI have been thinking of ways of continuing it when it does come to an end. There also might be a possibility of a similar themed time travel fic, completly unrelated to this story. They wont be AUs, but will follow the published books very closely. Thank you, once again.

To hittocerebattosai, great to hear from you again, thanks once again for those fine complements, youre up for another stunner here, and hopefully, some fun yet to come! There are ideas for similar types of stories, and I will give details on my forum shortly. Keep reading, and most importantly, keep that grin on your face!

To shadowchick13, thank you for your review, and thank you for you appreciation. Its always great to hear from a new reader, and I hope you continue to enjoy it as much. Check out my new forum, it will give details about expected update times, if you ever feel the need to do so. I hope it works.

To GodGeek, great to hear from you again, I'm glad you liked the chapter. Hopefully, youre going to love this too! Thank you so much for your enthusiasm, it's reviews like those which brighten up a dull day. Check out my forum, I will keep it up to date, and I hope it helps!

Once again, thank you to all who read, and to all who review. New chapter on its way soon.


	7. The Morning After

Okay, the next chapter is here! As you can probably see, I've had a few minor problems with loading the document in where the page break lines have not worked. As soon as I can, I will try and get this sorted out.

WANT TO KNOW WHEN I'M NEXT GOING TO UPDATE THIS STORY? GO TO MY PROFILE, AND LOOK IN MY FORUM. Its for telling readers of my fictions expected update times, and detailing the progress of the new chapters, along with new stories and rewritten chapters. I have just started this, and would appreciate any and all feedback about that- does it work, do you like it, does it tell you what you want to hear? PLEASE GIVE ME FEEDBACK. Oh, and to those of you who like the book/musical Wicked, check out the thread about my new (and first) Wicked fic.

Anyway, enough of authors notes. Here is the chapter, I hope you like!

**START OF CHAPTER**

When James woke up the following morning, nothing of the previous day remained in his memory. The only thing stirring his mind was the disappointment of waking up, and a thick, heavy fog obscuring everything he knew.

Staring up at the canopy of the four poster bed he had slept in, he drearily tried to figure out just how the bed looked different to how it usually did. Upon giving up, he concluded that he must have not been able to claim his usual four poster this year when the term began again. Funny, he couldn't remember any problems with getting his usual bed. They must have replaced the curtain canopies, then. But with what? These ones were just as dirty and moth eaten as his previous ones, more so, perhaps. What was going on?

He drew back the curtain, and gazed at the surrounding room in amazement. So that answered one question- this defiantly wasn't his usual dorm. This didn't resemble any dorm he had ever been in, for a good reason or otherwise. It was around about the same size, but was very spacious. There was only one other bed in the room besides his own, and that was another four-poster which stood directly opposite, its curtains as heavily moth eaten as his own. In front of each bed there lay a trunk, and on the left wall, either side of the door, were two rows of clothes hooks, on one of which, his invisibility cloak was hung. To James's right lay a large desk, with some shelving and storage to its side. At the far end of the room, beyond the desk, was a large, black leather punch-bag. To the left was yet another door, the dark gold letters WC gleaming dully against the dark old wood. _Typical, it has to be the other side of the room._ Slipping his legs round to the edge of the covers, he caught sight of an identically placed door just to the left behind his bed, its own tarnished letters a very welcoming sight to James.

Falling unceremoniously out of bed, he ambled into the bathroom, and emptied his bladder. Apart from the obvious, there also seemed to be two baths, with a shower standing in between, and another door at the far left end of the light blue tilled room. He looked at it in confusion.

As he was washing his hands, the end door opened, and he looked beyond, into the room opposite. The room he had just come from. He looked backwards, and saw the exact same room from the opposite angle, saw himself at the far end, in an identical bathroom, wearing an identically confused expression. He tore his eyes away from the magical infinity mirror and looked forward as a black shady figure who had threw open the door, entered. The black hairy monster ambled into the bathroom, walked into the wall of one of the cubicles, bounced off it, and came to an unsteady halt in front of the second basin. Cupping his hands under the cold water tap, the said figure brought his hands to his face and drowned it in a flood of water. Half yelling, half gulping, he brought his damp hands back up, and brushed the soaking strands of hair away from his eyes and mouth. Sirius stared at his drowned reflection for a moment, before he groaned again, and sent another wave of cold water towards himself again.

"You know, technically, we haven't been students for about 20 years. So why do I still have to wake up at 7 in the morning?" He said drearily.

James chuckled. "You didn't get any sleep either, I gather?"

At this, Sirius raised his eyebrows. "Either? Oh no, I got far less sleep then you did. I was awake at 3 AM in time to hear your snores."

"Hey, don't think I didn't hear you tossing and turning for hours on end. I might have gotten a little bit of sleep, but I was still awake most of the night." Beside him, James gave a snort.

Sirius's face grew into a warm smile as he shook his head, turned his heal and walked back out the door from which he had entered. James emerged from the opposite door onto the room, his eyes glancing around curiously as he caught sight of the large leather punch bag which hung by his best friend's bed. He gave Sirius a pointed stare, and motioned towards the object hanging just behind his right shoulder. Sirius looked around distractedly, caught sight of the bag just before he collided with it, and gave James another cheeky grin, accompanied with an exaggerated shrug.

"I was in a mood. You know that. After what we had just been told… Well, I needed to expend some energy. Needed to punch something. Preferably something which wouldn't fight back, or get me expelled…" Sirius muttered, his back to James as he got dressed from his trunk. James shook his head again as he went over to his own trunk, and like Sirius, began to pull some clothes on.

**PAGE BREAK**

"You know, now that we're here, we're going to have to find something to do…" James began, as they both ate a breakfast of sandwiches which had materialized on the table ten minutes ago. Sirius had (once again) complained about the state of his 'poor' stomach, when he had just happened to notice the plates appear out of nowhere.

"What do you suggest then, Padfoot?"

Sirius paused before continuing. "Well, you're son seems to have interesting company…"

"Meaning…?" James asked suspiciously.

"Prongs, I am astounded! He's been talking to escaped convicts by floo powder in the common room, which, unless they've changed the rules since we've been gone- something I doubt they'd do in a hundred years, is majorly frowned upon. They've pretty much got about as much respect for the rules as we do. Did. Have…? Anyway, I guarantee you that they'll be amusing. Come on- it's your son."

"'My son'! That sounds so weird. Well, if you put it that way, then I guess we'll have to get to business!" James said, with a sneaky smile.

"Ah, brilliant, I thought you'd never come round! Let's go, I've been so bored!" Sirius exclaimed. James let out a roaring laugh. "You're always bored!" he cried, as he raced Sirius to the invisibility cloak and out the door.

**END OF CHAPTER **

Once again, to both my loyal and new readers and reviewers, I would like to take the time to thank you for reading, and to those of you who did, for reviewing. To those of you who are looking at my forum for updates (and even those of you who are not), can you give me some feedback about it? Does it work? Am I letting you know what you want to hear? Am I updating it too regularly, or not enough? Do you find it useful? If you could let me know, I would be very grateful.

Okay, a very big apology, I missed some people out, I'm truly sorry. I hope that if you didn't review, you did at least enjoy it. Thank you to:

An Aspiring Author, Thank you for reading. I always love to read reviews from new readers, thank you for your complements, and I hope I will be hearing from you again.

PadfootObsessed329, Great to see yet another new face! I'm glad you like it, there's more to come, you won't be disapointed! Thank you again.

True fan, you certainty are! Thank you so so much for all those reviews, and for those amazing complements. You really made my day, you are so kind. I hope you find this chapter just as enthralling as the previous ones. I know there isn't much of a plot, it is mostly descriptive, but it is a chance to stretch my fingers and get style flowing. Thank you once again so much for your complements, I hope to hear from you again!

cmtaylor531, Its so brilliant to see a new reader/reviewer. I am pleased that you enjoy the story, and I can say, from what I have planned, you're going to love it even more!

Phantom of a Rose, Again, feedback from new readers is brilliant to see. Thank you most kindly for those complements, I hope this update will satisfy your thirst for a little while! I don't know whether this story is different or not, but I've developed the plot for several years. I've tried to make situations and emotions as realistic as possible. Once again, thank you, and I hope that this chapter is as enjoyable as the previous ones.

hittocerebattosai, ah, a familiar name! Good to hear from you again. The next few chapters are going to take a fun and mischievous side, pretty much on account of the boys trying to distract themselves from what they were told, but also living life- which they know how to do well!

Serpent91, another familiar name! Glad you enjoyed the chapter, and am honoured that you love the story. I hope to hear from you again. Is there any chance you could give just a little feed back on if my forum is working? Thanks again!

Once again, a big thanks to everyone who reviewed, but also everyone who read this chapter. I will be posting all updates and estimated times for the new chapter on my forum. You will find it through the link on my Profile page.


	8. AN and Chapter 8 Teaser

AN and Teaser

Due to a request from a friend, I am going to now CONTINUE with this story. Thank you to everyone who have been reading, and to new readers alike. I hope you continue to enjoy the tale.

It will take me a bit of time to finish chapter 8, but IT WILL BE DONE! Add the story to your email alerts, if you want to make sure not to miss anything. It has been a very long time since I worked on this story, since my interest laid with Harry Potter, so please give me feedback, and let me know you are interested so I can keep focused on writing. I know it's been a long time coming, but I do assure you, I will try and give a whole hearted attempt at continuing this story.

Thank you Theilian, and everyone else who has encouraged me to continue.

* * *

Teaser of next chapter:

The two time travellers shot out of the room and raced down the corridor. Two trolls in a hanging tapestry were sent flying backwards as Sirius braced himself momentarily against the wall, pushing the fabric as he fought to catch up with his friend. The moth eaten trolls stood dumbfounded for a moment, as a small shrunken man supporting a bloody nose and covered in bruises breathed a sigh of relief, before the trolls turned round and began clubbing him once more.

James and Sirius raced down the corridor and halted suddenly as they reached the end, panting heavily, James arriving moments after Sirius.

"oh-" Gasp, "not fa… fair!" Gasp, "I had-"


End file.
